« BackKerry judge warns mother she faces jail if children continue to miss school

Thursday, December 1st, 2016 at 8:10 am.

A Kerry judge has warned a mother she faces jail if her children continue to miss school.

The woman’s daughter has missed almost half of school days so far this academic year, while her son has missed almost a third.

This was one of four cases pertaining to school attendance brought before Tralee District Court by the Child and Family Agency.
In the first case, the court was told the woman’s daughter had missed 26 of the last 60 days – almost half of the current academic year.

The woman’s son has missed 29% of school days.

Judge James O’Connor said she has until the 8th of February to improve their school attendance records, or else she faces jail.

This was one of four cases pertaining to school attendance before Tralee District Court.

Another woman, who had also appeared before the court in October because her child had missed a third of school days since the start of the academic year, said her child has missed just one of the last 20 days.

The judge said this was a significant improvement, but he would keep the case under review; the woman is to appear in court again on the 8th of February.

Two other cases involved children being home-schooled; one case was withdrawn, the second is to come back before the court on the 8th of February as the application for home-schooling is yet to be finalised.